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{{Short description|8th-century classical Arabic poet}}
{{For|the crater|Abu Nuwas (crater)}}
{{Redirect|Nuwas|the 6th-century king|Dhu Nuwas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Abu Nuwas
| image            = Abu Nuwas.jpg
| image_size       = 180px
| alt              =
| caption          = Abu Nuwas drawn by [[Khalil Gibran]] in 1916
| pseudonym        =
| birth_name       = Abū Nuwās al-Ḥasan ibn Hānī al-Ḥakamī{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}
| birth_date       = 756-8
| birth_place      = [[Ahvaz]], [[Abbasid Caliphate]]
| death_date       = {{circa|{{Death year and age|814|756}}}}
| death_place      = [[Baghdad]], [[Abbasid Caliphate]]
| resting_place    =
| occupation       = Poet
| language         = Arabic
| ethnicity        =
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{{Arab culture}}

'''Abu Nuwas''' ({{langx|ar|أبو نواس|Abū Nuwās|label=none}}){{efn|Full name: '''Al-Ḥasan ibn Hānī 'Abd al-Awal al-Ṣabāḥ, Abū 'Alī''' ({{lang|ar| أَبُو عَلِي اَلْحَسَنْ بْنْ هَانِئْ بْنْ عَبْدِ اَلْأَوَّلْ بْنْ اَلصَّبَاحِ اَلْحُكْمِيِّ اَلْمِذْحَجِي}}), also known as '''Abū Nuwās al-Salamī''' ({{lang|ar|أبو نواس السلمي}}){{sfn|Ibn-Hallikān|1961|loc=II|p=546}}}} (756-8{{snd}}{{circa|814}}) was a classical [[Arabic poetry|Arabic poet]], and the foremost representative of the modern (''muhdath'') poetry that developed during the first years of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. He also entered the [[Folklore|folkloric]] tradition, appearing several times in ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''.

Of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, he studied in Basra and al-Kufah, first under the poet [[Waliba ibn al-Hubab]], and later under Khalaf al-Ahmar. He also studied the [[Qur'an]], [[Hadith]], and grammar. He earned the favour of the Abbasid caliphs [[Harun ar-Rashid]] and [[al-Amin]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Nuwas | title=Abū Nuwās &#124; Arabic Poet, Classical Poetry, Satire &#124; Britannica }}</ref> He is best known for his wine poetry, and [[Diwan (poetry)|Diwan]], his collected volume of poetry that explored religion, pleasure, and [[homoeroticism]].

== Early life ==
Abu Nuwas was born in the province of Ahvaz (modern [[Khuzestan Province]] in [[Iran]]) of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], either in the city of [[Ahvaz]] or one of its adjacent districts. His date of birth is uncertain, he was born sometime between 756 and 758. His father was Hani, an Arab (likely from Damascus) who had served in the army of the last [[Umayyad]] [[caliph]] [[Marwan II]] ({{reign|744|750}}). His mother was a Persian named Gulban, whom Hani had met whilst serving in the police force of Ahvaz. When Abu Nuwas was 10 years old, his father died.{{sfn|Wagner|2007}}<ref>{{harvnb|Fatehi-Nezhad|Azarnoosh|Negahban|2008}}; His mother was a Persian seamstress from Ahwāz, called Gulbān or Gulnāz (Abū Hiffān, 108; Ibn al-Muʿtazz, 194; Ibn Qutayba, al-Shiʿr, 2/692; Ibn ʿAsākir, 4/279). His father Hānī was either Persian (according to al-Aṣmaʿī) or from al-Shām, and had served in the army of the last Umayyad caliph, Marwān II</ref>

In his early childhood Abu Nuwas followed his mother to Basra in lower Iraq where he attended Qur’an school and became a [[Hafiz (Quran)|Hafiz]] at a young age. His youthful good looks and innate charisma attracted the attention of the [[Kufa]]n poet, Abu Usama Waliba ibn al-Hubab al-Asadi, who took Abu Nuwas to Kufa as a young apprentice. Waliba recognized in Abu Nuwas his talent as a poet and encouraged him toward this vocation, but was also attracted sexually to the young man and may have had erotic relations with him. Abu Nuwas's relationships with adolescent boys when he had matured as a man seem to mirror his own experience with Waliba.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Philip F.|title=Abu Nuwas : a genius of poetry|date=2009|isbn=978-1-78074-188-8|edition=First South Asian paperback|location=New Delhi|oclc=890932769}}</ref>

== Work ==
Abu Nuwas wrote poetry in multiple genres; his great talent was most recognized in his wine poems and in his hunting poems.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Philip F.|title=Abu Nuwas : a genius of poetry|page=10|date=2012|edition=Oneworld Publications ebook|location=London}}</ref> Abu Nuwas’s ''diwan,'' his poetry collection, was divided by genre: panegyric poems, elegies, invective, courtly love poems on men and women, poems of penitence, hunting poems, and wine poems.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=The Diwan of Abu Nuwas |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/diwan-abu-nuwas |access-date=November 5, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia}}</ref> His erotic lyric poetry, which is mostly homoerotic, is known from over 500 poems and fragments.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Philip F.|title=Abu Nuwas : a genius of poetry|page=58|date=2012|edition=Oneworld Publications ebook|location=London}}</ref> He also participated in the well-established Arabic tradition of satirical poetry, which included duels between poets involving vicious exchanges of poetic lampoons and insults.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Philip F.|title=Abu Nuwas : a genius of poetry|page=150|date=2012|edition=Oneworld Publications ebook|location=London}}</ref>
Ismail bin Nubakht, one of Nuwas's contemporaries, said:
<blockquote>
"I never saw a man of more extensive learning than Abu Nuwas, nor one who, with a memory so richly furnished, possessed so few books. After his death we searched his house, and could only find one book-cover containing a quire of paper, in which was a collection of rare expressions and grammatical observations."{{sfn|Arbuthnot|1890|p=81}}

</blockquote>

=== ''Khamriyyat'' (Wine Poems) ===
The spirit of a new age was reflected in wine poetry after the change in dynasties to the Abbasids.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |editor-last=Ashtiany|editor-first=Julia|title=ʻAbbasid Belles Lettres |isbn=978-1-139-42490-5 |oclc=819159055}}</ref> Abu Nuwas was a major influence on the development of wine poetry. His poems were likely written to entertain the Baghdad elite.<ref name=":13"/> The centerpiece of wine poetry lays the vivid description of the wine, exalted descriptions of its taste, appearance, fragrance, and effects on the body and mind.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |first=Alex |last=Rowell |title=Vintage Humour: the Islamic Wine Poetry of Abu Nuwas. |date=2018 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1-84904-992-4 |oclc=1032725647}}</ref> Abu Nuwas draws on many philosophical ideas and imagery in his poetry that glorify the [[Persians]] and mock Arab classicism.<ref name=":02" /> He used wine poetry as a medium to echo the themes of Abbasid relevance in the Islamic world. An example of this is shown through a piece he wrote in his ''Khamriyyat'':<blockquote>“Wine is passed round among us in a silver jug, adorned by a Persian craftsman with a variety of designs, Chosroes on its base, and round its side oryxes which horsemen hunt with bows. Wine’s place is where tunics are buttoned; water’s place is where the Persian cap (''qalansuwah'') is worn.”<ref name=":02" /></blockquote>This passage has a prevalence of Persian imagery corresponding to the [[Persian language]] used in this period. Abu Nuwas was known to have both a poetic and political tone in his poetry. Along with other Abbasid poets, Abu Nuwas atones for his openness to drinking wine and disregarding religion.<ref name=":02" /> He wrote satirical strikes at Islam using wine as both an excuse and liberator.<ref name=":3" /> A specific line of poetry in his ''Khamriyyat'' exemplifies his facetious relationship with religion; this line compares the religious prohibition of wine to God’s forgiveness.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Philip F. |title=The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Poetry: Abu Nuwas and the Literary Tradition |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780198263920 |location=Oxford, England, UK |page=70}}</ref> Abu Nuwas wrote his literature as if his sins were vindicated within a religious framework. Abu Nuwas’s poetry also reflected his love for wine and sexuality. The poems were written to celebrate both the physical and metaphysical experience of drinking wine that did not conform to the norms of poetry in the Islamic world.<ref name=":13" />  A continuing theme in Abbasid wine poetry was its affiliation with [[pederasty]] due to the fact that wine shops usually employed boys as servers.<ref name=":02" /> These poems were often salacious and rebellious. In the erotic section of his ''Diwan'', his poems describe young servant girls dressed up as young boys drinking wine.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |author=Kennedy, Philip F. |title=Abu Nuwas, A Genius of Poetry |isbn=1-322-52649-4 |oclc=898753712}}</ref> His affection for young boys was displayed through his poetry and social life. Abu Nuwas explores an intriguing prejudice: that homosexuality was imported to Abbasid Iraq from the province in which the revolution originated.<ref name=":22" /> He states in his writing that during the Umayyad caliphate, poets only indulged in female lovers.<ref name=":22" /> Nuwas' seductive poems use wine as a central theme for blame and scapegoat.<ref name=":02" /> This is shown through an excerpt from his ''al-Muharramah:''
<blockquote>"Boasting myriad colors when it spreads out in glass, silencing all tongues,

Showing off her body, golden, like a peal on a tailor's strong, in the hand of a lithe young man who speaks beautifully in response to a lover's request,

With a curl on each temple and a look in his eye that spells disaster.

He is a Christian, he wears clothes from Khurasan and his tunic bares his upper chest and neck.

Were you to speak to this elegant beauty, you would fling Islam from the top of a tall mountain.

If I were not afraid of the depredation of He who leads all sinners into transgression,

I would convert to his religion, entering it knowingly with love,
For I know that the Lord would not have distinguished this youth so unless his was the true religion."<ref name=":13" /></blockquote>
This poem accounts for various sins of Abu Nuwas: being served by a Christian, glorifying a boy's beauty, and finding testimony in Christianity. Abu Nuwas's writing ridicules heterosexual propriety, the condemnation of homosexuality, the alcohol ban, and Islam itself.<ref name=":13" /> He uses his literature to testify against the religious and cultural norms during the Abbasid caliphate. Though many of his poems describe his affection for boys, relating the taste and pleasure of wine to women is a signature technique of Abu Nuwas.<ref name=":22" /> Abu Nuwas's preference was not uncommon among men of his time as homoerotic lyrics and poetry were popular among Muslim mystics.<ref name=":13" />

The earliest anthologies of his poetry and his biography were produced by:{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=312–16,353,382,1062}}

* [[Al-Fadl ibn Yahya|Yaḥyā ibn al-Faḍl]] and [[Yaqub Ibn as-Sikkit|Ya‘qūb ibn al-Sikkīt]] arranged his poetry under ten subject categories, rather than in alphabetical order. Al-Sikkīt wrote an 800-page commentary.{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|p=352}}
* Abū Sa’īd al-Sukkarī{{efn|Abū Sa’īd al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sukkarī (d. 888/ 889), scholar of linguistics, ancient history, genealogy, poetry, geology, zoology and botany.}} edited his poetry, providing commentary and linguistic notes; he completed editing approximately two thirds of the corpus of one thousand folios.{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=173, 353}}{{sfn|Flügel|1862|p=89}}
* [[Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli|Abū Bakr ibn Yaḥyā aI-Ṣūlī]] edited his work, organizing poems alphabetically, and corrected some false attributions.
* [[Hamza al-Isfahani|Ḥamza ibn al-Ḥasan al-Iṣfahānī]] also edited his writings, compiling works alphabetically. However, [[Ibn al-Nadim]] attributes this to an ‘Alī ibn Ḥamza al-Iṣbahānī.{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=353, 954}}<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Sherrill |first=Logan J. |date=2024 |title=The World of Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī: His Life and Writings in Context |page= 4 |url=https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/L_Sherrill_World_2024.pdf |publisher=University of North Carolina at Greensboro}}</ref>
* Yūsuf ibn al-Dāyah{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=353, 1129}}
* Abū Hiffān{{efn|Abū Hiffān Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥarb al-Mihzamī (d. 871), secretary and poet of al-Baṣrah who lived in Baghdād.}}{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=316, 1003}}
* Ibn al-Washshā’ Abū Ṭayyib, scholar of Baghdād{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=186, 353, 1122}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Suyūṭī (al-) |author-link=Al-Suyuti |first=Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān |url=https://archive.org/stream/FP12042/01_12042#page/n18/mode/2up |title=Bughyat al-Wuʻāh fī Ṭabaqāt al-Lughawīyīn wa-al-Nuḥāh |publisher=Ṭubiʻa bi-mạṭbaʻat ʻĪsa al-Bābī al-Halabī |year=1965 |volume=1 |location=[[Cairo|al-Qāhirah]] |page=18 (§&nbsp;27) |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yāqūt |author-link=Yaqut al-Hamawi |first=Shihāb al-Dīn ibn ‘Abd al-Ḥamawī |url=https://archive.org/details/waq45344 |title=Irshād al-Arīb alā Ma'rifat al-Adīb |publisher=Dār Gharib al-Islām i |year=1993 |editor-last=Abbās |editor-first=Ihsan |location=Beirut |pages=[https://archive.org/details/waq45344/page/n2302 2303]-2304 (§&nbsp;953) |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yāqūt |author-link=Yaqut al-Hamawi |first=Shihāb al-Dīn ibn ‘Abd al-Ḥamawī |url=https://archive.org/details/kitbirshadalarib06yqtiuoft |title=Irshād al-Arīb alā Ma'rifat al-Adīb |publisher=Brill |year=1913 |editor-last=[[David Samuel Margoliouth|Margoliouth]] |editor-first=D. S. |volume=VI (7) |location=Leiden |pages=[https://archive.org/details/kitbirshadalarib06yqtiuoft/page/277 277]–278 |language=Arabic}}</ref>
* Ibn ‘Ammār{{efn|Ibn ‘Ammār is possibly Aḥmad ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ‘Ammār al-Thaqafī (d. 926), Shī’ah secretary and vizier to many caliphs.}} wrote a critique of Nuwas's work, including citing instances of alleged plagiarism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iṣbahānī |author-link=Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani |first=Abū al-Faraj |url=https://archive.org/details/kitabalagani01alib |title=Kitab al-Aghānī |publisher=Brill |year=1888 |volume=IV |location=Leiden |page=[https://archive.org/details/kitabalagani01alib/page/157 157] |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Iṣbahānī |author-link=Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani |first=Abū al-Faraj |url=https://archive.org/details/kitabalagani15alib |title=Kitab al-Aghānī |publisher=Brill |year=1888 |volume=XVIII |location=Leiden |pages=[https://archive.org/details/kitabalagani15alib/page/2 2]–29 |language=Arabic}}</ref>
* Al-Munajjim family: Abū Manṣūr; Yaḥyā ibn Abī Manṣūr; Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā; ‘Alī ibn Yaḥyā; Yaḥyā ibn ‘Alī; Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā; Hārūn ibn ‘Alī; ‘Alī ibn Hārūn; Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī; Hārūn ibn ‘Alī ibn Hārūn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khallikān (Ibn) |author-link=Ibn Khallikan |first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad |url=https://archive.org/stream/WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/Vol3Of4WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan#page/n607/mode/2up |title=Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary (tr. Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-al-Anbā Abnā' al-Zamān) |publisher=W.H. Allen |year=1868 |volume=III |location=London |pages=604–5 |language=English |translator-last=[[William McGuckin de Slane|McGuckin de Slane]] |translator-first=William}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Khallikān (Ibn) |author-link=Ibn Khallikan |first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad |url=https://archive.org/stream/WAQ17074/06_17080#page/n78/mode/2up |title=Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-Anbā' Abnā' al-Zamān (The Obituaries of Eminent Men) |publisher=Dār Ṣādar |year=1972 |volume=VI |location=Beirut |pages=78–79 |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tha‘ālibī (al-) |author-link=Al-Tha'alibi |first=‘Abd al-Mālik, Abū Manṣūr |title=Nāqidan fī Yatīmat al-dahr fī Shu'arā' Ahl al-Aṣr |publisher=Baptist Mission Press |year=1915 |volume=II |location=Calcutta |page=283 |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tha‘ālibī (al-) |author-link=Al-Tha'alibi |first=‘Abd al-Mālik, Abū Manṣūr |title=Nāqidan fī Yatīmat al-dahr fī Shu'arā' Ahl al-Aṣr |publisher=Baptist Mission Press |year=1915 |volume=III |location=Calcutta |pages=207–8 |language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tha‘ālibī (al-) |author-link=Al-Tha'alibi |first=‘Abd al-Mālik, Abū Manṣūr |title=Index: Farīdatu'l-'Aṣr |publisher=Al-Maṭba’ah al-Ḥanifīyah |year=1885 |location=Damascus |language=Arabic}}</ref>
* Abū al-Ḥasan al-Sumaysāṭī also wrote in praise of Nuwas.{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|p=353}}

== Imprisonment and death ==
He died during the [[Fourth Fitna|Great Abbasid Civil War]] before [[Al-Ma'mun|al-Ma’mūn]] advanced from [[Khorasan Province|Khurāsān]] in either 199 or 200 AH (814–816 AD).{{sfn|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970|pp=352-3}} Because he frequently indulged in drunken exploits, Nuwas was imprisoned during the reign of [[Al-Amin]], shortly before his death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abu Nuwas |url=https://rainbowsudan.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/abu-nuwas/ |date=October 16, 2012 |access-date=May 27, 2020}}</ref>

The cause of his death is disputed:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abu Nuwas Biography |url=https://www.poemhunter.com/abu-nuwas/biography/ |publisher=Poemhunter |access-date=May 27, 2020}}</ref> four different accounts of Abu Nuwas’s death survive: 1. He was poisoned by the Nawbakht family, having been framed with a poem satirizing them; 2. He died in a tavern drinking right up to his death; 3. He was beaten by the Nawbakht for the satire falsely attributed to him; wine appears to have had a role in the flailing emotions of his final hours—this seems to be a combination of accounts one and two; 4. He died in prison, a version which contradicts the many anecdotes stating that in the advent of his death he suffered illness and was visited by friends (though not in prison). He most probably died of ill health, and equally probably in the house of the Nawbakht family, whence came the myth that they poisoned him.<ref name=":1" /> Nuwas was buried in Shunizi cemetery in Baghdad.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khallikān |first=Ibn |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CLpmAAAAMAAJ |title=Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary – Internet Archive |publisher=Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland |year=1842 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CLpmAAAAMAAJ/page/n410 394] |quote=Abu Nuwas buried cemetery. |access-date=12 September 2010}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Verses of Abu Nawas, copied by Mirza Kuchik Visal, Qajar Iran, 10 May 1824.jpg|thumb|right|Manuscript of Abu Nawas's verses. Copied by Mirza Kuchik Visal, [[Qajar Iran]], dated 10 May 1824]]

=== Influences ===
Nuwas is one of a number of writers credited with inventing the literary form of the ''[[Riddles (Arabic)|mu‘ammā]]'' (literally "blinded" or "obscured"), a riddle which is solved "by combining the constituent letters of the word or name to be found".<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1998 |title=mu'ammā |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2009 |title=Lu<u>gh</u>z |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam}}</ref> He also perfected two Arabic genres: Khamriyya (wine poetry) and Tardiyya (hunting poetry). [[Ibn Quzman]], who was writing in [[Al-Andalus]] in the 12th century, admired him deeply and has been compared to him.<ref>{{cite book |title=La Corónica |volume=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ipfAAAAMAAJ |page=242 |year=1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Monroe |first=James T. |title=Why was Ibn Quzmān Not Awarded the Title of "Abū Nuwās of the West?" ('Zajal 96', the Poet, and His Critics) |journal=Journal of Arabic Literature |year=2013 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=293–334 |doi=10.1163/1570064x-12341271 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jal/44/3/article-p293_2.xml|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Commemoration ===
The city of [[Baghdad]] has several places named for the poet. Abū Nuwās Street runs along the east bank of the [[Tigris]] River, in a neighbourhood that was once the city's showpiece.<ref>{{Britannica|2290|Abū Nuwās Street}}</ref> Abu Nuwas Park is located on the 2.5-kilometer stretch between the Jumhouriya Bridge and a park that extends out to the river in Karada near the [[14th of July Bridge]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=DVIDS – News – A Walk in the Park|url=http://www.dvidshub.net/news/221/walk-park|access-date=12 September 2010|publisher=Dvidshub.net}}</ref>

In 1976, a [[Abu Nuwas (crater)|crater on the planet Mercury]] was named in honor of Abu Nuwas.{{sfn | Mahoney | 2013 | p=49}}

The Abu Nawas Association, founded in 2007 in Algeria, was named after the poet. The primary aim of the organisation is to decriminalise homosexuality in Algeria, seeking the abolition of article 333 and 338 of the Algerian penal code which still considers [[homosexuality]] a crime punishable by imprisonment and accompanied by a fine.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-05-27|title=Gay people are reclaiming an Islamic heritage|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/05/27/gay-people-are-reclaiming-an-islamic-heritage|access-date=2021-05-31|issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=TCHUISSEU|first=Divine-Léna|date=28 November 2020|title=LGBTQIA+ activism in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries: between repression and determination|url=https://igg-geo.org/?p=2741&lang=en|url-status=live|website=Institut du Genre en Géopolitique|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215815/https://igg-geo.org/?p=2741&lang=en |archive-date=2 June 2021 }}</ref>

== Censorship ==
While his works were in circulation freely until the early years of the twentieth century, the first modern censored edition of his works was published in Cairo in 1932. In January 2001, the [[Ministry of Culture (Egypt)|Egyptian Ministry of Culture]] ordered the burning of some 6,000 copies of books of Nuwas's [[homoerotic]] poetry.<ref>''Al-Hayat'', 13 January 2001</ref><ref>''Middle East Report'', 219 Summer 2001</ref> In the Saudi ''[[Global Arabic Encyclopedia]]'' entry for Abu Nuwas, all mentions of [[pederasty]] were omitted.<ref name="bearman">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2009 |title=Global Arabic Encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopedias about Muslim Civilisations |last=Bearman |first=Peri |editor-last=Khanbaghi |editor-first=Aptin |pages=16–17}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
He features as a character in a number of stories in ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'', where he is cast as a boon companion of Harun al-Rashid.

A heavily fictionalised Abu Nuwas is the protagonist of the novels ''The Father of Locks'' (Dedalus Books, 2009)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Killeen, Andrew.|title=The father of locks|date=2009|publisher=Dedalus|isbn=978-1-903517-76-5|location=Sawtry|oclc=260209089}}</ref> and ''The Khalifah's Mirror'' (2012) by Andrew Killeen,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Killeen, Andrew.|title=The Khalifah's mirror|date=2012|publisher=Dedalus|isbn=978-1-909232-35-8|location=New York|oclc=815389625}}</ref> in which he is depicted as a spy working for [[Ja'far al-Barmaki]].{{sfn|Killeen|2009}}

In the Sudanese novel ''Season of Migration to the North'' (1966) by [[Tayeb Salih]], Abu Nuwas's love poetry is cited extensively by one of the novel's protagonists, the Sudanese Mustafa Sa'eed, as a means of seducing a young English woman in London: "Does it not please you that the earth is awaking,/ That old virgin wine is there for the taking?"{{sfn|Ṣāliḥ|1991|pp=119-120}}

The [[Tanzania]]n artist Godfrey Mwampembwa ([[Gado (comics)|Gado]]) created a [[Swahili language|Swahili]] comic book called ''Abunuwasi'' which was published in 1996.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gado|title=Abu nuwasi : kimefasiriwa na kimechorwa|date=1996|publisher=Sasa Sema Publications|isbn=9966-9609-0-2|location=Nairobi, Kenya|oclc=43496228}}</ref> It features a trickster figure named Abunuwasi as the protagonist in three stories draw inspiration from East African folklore as well as the fictional Abu Nuwasi of ''One Thousand and One Nights''.{{sfn|Pilcher|2005|p=297}}{{sfn|Gado|1998}}

In [[Pier Paolo Pasolini|Pasolini's]] [[Arabian Nights (1974 film)|Arabian Nights]], the ''Sium'' story is based on Abu Nuwas' erotic poetry. The original poems are used throughout the scene.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgDRDgAAQBAJ&q=1001+nights+sium&pg=PT38|title=Arabian Nights: A Queer Film Classic|isbn=9781551526676|last1=Moon|first1=Michael|date=15 January 2017|publisher=Arsenal pulp press }}</ref>

In [[Indonesia]], Abu Nuwas, called ''Abunawas'', is a character of various folk stories, similar to [[Nasreddin Hoca]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-20 |title=Bedanya Nasrudin Khoja dan Abu Nawas |url=https://republika.co.id/berita/dunia-islam/islam-digest/16/09/20/odsl15313-bedanya-nasrudin-khoja-dan-abu-nawas |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Republika Online |language=id}}</ref> The stories often highlight relations between ordinary people and the higher class.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125970487.pdf |title=The discourse of common people represented in Javanese version of Abu Nawas stories |last=Rahayu |first=Mundi |date=2021 |journal=Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research |volume=644 |access-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519235405/https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125970487.pdf |archive-date=May 19, 2022}}</ref>

== Editions and translations ==
* ''Der Dīwān des Abū Nuwās'', ed. by Ewald Wagner. 5 vols. (1958-2003).
* ''Dīwān Abū Nu’ās, khamriyyāt Abū Nu’ās'', ed. by ‘Alī Najīb ‘Aṭwi (Beirut 1986).
* ''O Tribe That Loves Boys''. [[Hakim Bey]] (Entimos Press / Abu Nuwas Society, 1993). With a scholarly biographical essay on Abu Nuwas, largely taken from Ewald Wagner's biographical entry in ''The Encyclopedia of Islam.''
* ''Carousing with Gazelles, Homoerotic Songs of Old Baghdad''. Seventeen poems by Abu Nuwas translated by Jaafar Abu Tarab.  (iUniverse, Inc., 2005).
* Jim Colville. ''Poems of Wine and Revelry: The Khamriyyat of Abu Nuwas.'' (Kegan Paul, 2005).
* ''The Khamriyyāt of Abū Nuwās: Medieval Bacchic Poetry'', trans. by Fuad Matthew Caswell (Kibworth Beauchamp: Matador, 2015). Trans. from ‘Aṭwi 1986.

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book |last=Arbuthnot |first=F.F. |title=Arabic Authors: A Manual of Arabian History and Literature |publisher=W. Heinemann |year=1890 |lccn=43050203}}
* {{Encyclopaedia Islamica|last1=Fatehi-Nezhad|first1=Enayatollah|last2=Azarnoosh|first2=Azartash|last3=Negahban|first3=Farzin|title=Abū Nuwās|year=2008|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/abu-nuwas-COM_0121}}
* {{Cite book |last=Flügel |first=Gustav |author-link=Gustav Leberecht Flügel |title=Die grammatischen Schulen der Araber |publisher=Brockhaus |year=1862 |location=Leipzig |language=German |trans-title=The Grammatical Schools of the Arabs |oclc=1042925515}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gado |title=Abunuwasi |date=1998 |publisher=Sasa Sema Publications |isbn=9966-9609-0-2 |oclc=475143542}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ibn-Hallikān |first=Aḥmad Ibn-Muḥammad |title=Wafayat al-a'yan wa anbã' abna' al-zamãn |date=1961 |publisher=Pakistan Historical Society |language=Arabic |trans-title=The Obituaries of Eminent Men |oclc=633767474 |author-link=Ibn Khallikan}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ibn al-Nadīm |first=Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq |title=The Fihrist of al-Nadīm : a tenth-century survey of Muslim culture |date=1970 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-02925-X |editor-last=Dodge |editor-first=Bayard |editor-link=Bayard Dodge |oclc=298105272 |ref={{sfnref|Ibn al-Nadīm|1970}} |author-link=Ibn al-Nadim}}
* {{Cite book |last=Killeen |first=Andrew |title=The Father of Locks |publisher=Dedalus |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-903517-76-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Mahoney |first=T.J. |title=Mercury |publisher=Springer New York |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4614-7951-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC65BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |access-date=June 17, 2020}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pilcher |first=Tim |title=The Essential Guide to World Comics |date=2005 |publisher=Collins & Brown |isbn=1-84340-300-5 |oclc=61302672}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ṣāliḥ |first=al-Ṭayyib |title=Season of Migration to the North |publisher=Heinemann |others=Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-435-90974-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Straley |first=Dona S. |title=The undergraduate's companion to Arab writers and their web sites |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-59158-118-5 |page=30 |ref=GA}}
* {{EI3|last=Wagner|first=Ewald|year=2007|title=Abū Nuwās|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/abu-nuwas-SIM_0085}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Philip F. |title=The Wine Song in Classical Arabic Poetry: Abu Nuwas and the Literary Tradition |publisher=[[Open University Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-19-826392-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Philip F. |title=Abu Nuwas: A Genius of Poetry |publisher=OneWorld Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-85168-360-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lacy |first=Norris J. |title=Poetics of Love in the Middle Ages |publisher=[[George Mason University Press]] |year=1989 |isbn=0-913969-25-7 |editor-last=[[Moshe Lazar]] |pages=95–118 |chapter=The Care and Feeding of Gazelles – Medieval Arabic and Hebrew love poetry}}
* {{Cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard N. |title=The Golden Age of Persia |year=1975 |isbn=0-06-492288-X |page=123 |publisher=Barnes & Noble Books |author-link=Richard Nelson Frye}}
* {{Cite book |last=Rowell |first=Alex |title=Vintage Humour: The Islamic Wine Poetry of Abu Nawas |publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-84904-897-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Khallikān (Ibn) |author-link=Ibn Khallikan |first=Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad |url=https://archive.org/stream/WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan/Vol1Of4WafayatAl-ayantheObituariesOfEminentMenByIbnKhallikan#page/n429/mode/2up |title=Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary (tr. Wafayāt al-A'yān wa-al-Anbā Abnā' al-Zamān) |publisher=W.H. Allen |year=1843 |volume=i |location=London |pages=391–395 |language=English |translator-last=[[William McGuckin de Slane|McGuckin de Slane]] |translator-first=William}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Abu Nuwas}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Abu Nuwas}}
{{Wikiquote|Abu Nuwas}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010620031029/http://www.sbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/abunuwas.html The Knitting Circle – Abu Nuwas]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130731180006/http://www.al-funun.org/al-funun/images/abu_nuwas.html Al-Funu.Org: Abu Nuwas]
* [http://cordite.org.au/translations/montgomery-nuwas/ Horse, Hawk, and Cheetah: Three Arabic Hunting Poems of Abū Nuwās] ''Cordite Poetry Review''

{{Arabic literature}}
{{One Thousand and One Nights}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuwas, Abu}}
[[Category:750s births]]
[[Category:8th-century Arabic-language poets]]
[[Category:9th-century Arabic-language poets]]
[[Category:People from Ahvaz]]
[[Category:Persian-language poets]]
[[Category:Folklore characters]]
[[Category:Gay Muslims]]
[[Category:Gay poets]]
[[Category:Arab LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Medieval LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Humor and wit characters]]
[[Category:One Thousand and One Nights characters]]
[[Category:Poets from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Courtiers from the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Arabic erotic literature]]
[[Category:LGBTQ history in Iraq]]
[[Category:Pederasty]]
[[Category:Shu'ubiyya]]
[[Category:810s deaths]]